Universe age: 13.826 billion years
The universe is estimated to be 13.826 billion years old, a figure with only a tiny uncertainty according to current cosmological models.
Snapshot · The Shawn Ryan Show
#316 Brian Keating - The First Object Ever Found From Another Solar System
Explore episode
Jun 25, 2026
Where this was said
The BICEP Experiment: Discovery, Announcement, and Retraction
At 2:14:05 · chapter starts 2:13:10
Keating explains the instrumental physics of CMB detection: microwaves are absorbed by water, so detection requires environments with no water vapor — the South Pole and Chile's Atacama at 17,000 feet. His BICEP telescope was designed to find a specific polarization signature in the CMB called B-modes, which would be the 'shrapnel' of the inflationary explosion that started the Big Bang. Using the analogy of detecting gunshot evidence through multiple channels — sonic, visual, chemical, radioactive — he explains how physicists devise indirect detection methods for phenomena they can never directly observe. The stage is set for the announcement that rocked cosmology. [1] — Brian Keating "In 2014, Brian Keating's BICEP team announced they had detected the gravitational wave signature of cosmic inflation — the primer strike of…" 2:19:00
The Big Bang, Cosmic Microwave Background, and What Happened the Day Before
The cosmic microwave background is the leftover heat from nuclear fusion at the universe's birth — still detectable today. To find it, you need to go where there's no water: Antarctica or the Atacama Desert. Brian Keating dedicated his career to capturing its faintest signal to answer humanity's oldest question: what happened before the Big Bang?
The BICEP Experiment: Almost Winning — and Losing — the Nobel Prize
In 2014, Brian Keating's BICEP team announced they had detected the gravitational wave signature of cosmic inflation — the primer strike of the Big Bang itself. It made headlines worldwide. Then it turned out to be dust from dead stars. The ultimate lesson: you are the easiest person to fool yourself.
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